Eraser holder



g- 20, A. F. HENDERSON 1,725,075

ERASER HOLDER Filed March 12, 1927 v lavmfir Patented Aug. 20, 1929.

UNITED STATES ALBERT F. HENDERSON, 0F MIDDLETON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ERASER HOLDER.

Application filed March 12, 1927. Serial No. 174,750.

This invention relates to a holder adapted to enclose, stiffen, and protect the major portion of a soft rubber eraser, having a wedgeshaped end portion which is exposed for use. at the inner end of the holder, and is adapted to be manipulated by a user grasp ing the holder.

The object of the invention is to provide a holder adapted to expose the wedgeshaped end of the eraser, permit convenient longitudinal adjustment of the eraser to compensate for wear of the wedge-shaped end, and free from projections ad acent the wedge-shaped end liable to mar paper during the erasing operation.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view, showing an eraser and my improved holder.

Figure 2 shows in perspective the sheath portion of the holder.

Figure 3 shows in perspective the clamp portion of the holder.

Figure 4 is a perspective view, showing the usual form of the eraser.

Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of F igure 1.

Figure 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig ure 1.

Figure 7 is a section on line 77 of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7, showing the eraser partly worn out.

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 5, showing the clamp and the eraser partly ejected from the sheath.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

The commercial form of rubber eraser shown by Figure 4, for which my improved holder is intended, is oblong in cross section, and has narrow edge faces 0. and wide side faces I; having converging beveled or curved portions 6' at one end, to form a wedgeshaped tip constituting the acting inner end portion of the eraser.

A holder embodying my improvements is composed of two members, one being a clamp and the other a sheath.

The clamp is composed of narrow jaws 12, formed to bear on the edge faces a of the eraser, and a neck 13, connecting the jaws, and formed to cover the outer end of the eraser. The sheath is a flat-sided sheet metal tube open from end to end, and has wide. side walls 14, adapted to bear on the side faces of the eraser, and wider than said faces,and narrow edge walls 15, which bear on the jaws 12 when the clamp is inserted in the sheath. The edge walls 15 are so spaced apart that when the eraser is placed bet-ween the jaws 12, and forced with the clamp into the sheath, the jaws are pressed by the edge walls closely against the edge faces a of the eraser, as shown by Figure 5, and exert pressure on said edge faces, caus ing the side faces 6 of the eraser to bulge slightly outward against the side walls 14 of the sheath.

The jaws 12 and the sheath are of substantially the same length, so that when the clamp and the eraser are fully inserted in the sheath, the neck 13 occupies the open outer end of the sheath, as shown by Figures 5, 7, and 8, and constitutes a push member on which pressure may be exerted by means such as a pencil p, to displace the clamp and eraser, as indicated by Figure 9, thus permitting a lengthwise adjustment of the eraser relative to the jaws, to compensate for wear of the wedgeshaped end. When the jaws and eraser are forced into the sheath, the jaws are closed on the portion of the eraser remaining therebetween. The adjustment of the eraser may be continued until the major portion is worn away, as indicated by Figure 8, which shows the remnant of the eraser after several adjustments.

The entrance of the clamp and eraser into the sheath is limited by outwardly turned ears 16, on the free ends of the jaws 12, said ears abutting the inner ends of the edge walls 15, when the neck 13 is flush with the outer end of the sheath.

The jaws may be provided with inwardly projecting bosses 17, adapted to indent the edge faces of the eraser, as shown by Figures 5 and 6.

As shown by Figures 1, 7 and 8, the inner ends of the side walls 14; are in close unobstructing contact with the side faces of the eraser adjacent the beveled or curved portions 72, forming the sides of the wedgeshaped end, so that when one of said sides is applied to a fiat paper surface s (Figure 7), to be cleaned by the eraser, the holder is free from liability of scratching or otherwise marring said surface. In other words, the only projections on the external surface crosswise of the edge faces a and are neck, and jaws connected thereby, the jaws having stop ears at their free ends, and a sheath adapted to recelve the clasp, and an eraser engaged therewith, the insertion of the clasp in the sheath being limited by the abutting of the stop ears on one end of the sheath.

So far as I am aware, however, the clasp jaws have heretofore been formed to bear on the side faces 6 of the eraser, so that their stop ears extend across said side faces and overhang the same to such an extent that the edges of the stop ears are liable to scratch or mar a surface s on which the wedgeshaped tip of the eraser is performing its function, particularly when the tip has been worn down so that its apex is relatively near the stop ears.

My holder is characterized by the fact that the clasp jaws 12 are narrow, and formed to bear only on the edge faces a, of the eraser, so that the stop cars 16 extend wholly separated from the side faces I; and beveled portions 2). The stop ears are thereby prevented froni contacting with and marring the surface s, when the wedge-shaped tip is performing its function.

I claim:

For use with a rubber eraser which is oblong in cross section and has relatively wide side faces converging at one end to form a wedge-shaped tip, and narrower edge faces, a holder comprising :a sheath open from end to end and oblong in cross section, so that it has two relatively wide opposite side walls spaced apart to bear closely on the side aces of the eraser, and narrower edge walls, spaced apart to leave longitudinal spaces therebetween and the edge faces of the eraser, and a clasp slidable in the sheath, and having awsformed to bear on the edge faces of the eraser, a neck connecting the jaws at one end of the clasp, and stop ears on the free ends of the jaws formed to abut the edge walls of the sheath and limit the insertion of the clasp into the sheath, the arrangement being such that the stop ears are wholly between the side walls of the sheath and the side faces of an eraser held by the holder, so that said ears cannot contact with a surface on which the wedgeshaped tip of the eraser acts.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

ALBERT F. HENDERSON. 

